


Adrenaline.

by antagon1st



Category: South Park
Genre: Basically a partners in crime AU, Gun Violence, Lots of angst but also a fair amount of lighthearted moments, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 05:29:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14418678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antagon1st/pseuds/antagon1st
Summary: Craig Tucker is an eighteen-year-old living in South Park, Colorado, fresh out of high school and leading an underwhelming life of routine and aimlessness which consists of renting a cheap apartment and working the cash register at a local convenience store. Kenny McCormick is a thrill-seeking drifter and teenage runaway from the inner city of Denver, who isn't above breaking the rules more than just a little to get by.One day, they cross paths. And they never look back.





	Adrenaline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, hello, it's me again with yet another Crenny fic because I don't know how to stop. 
> 
> So, I know that I already have another fic in progress right now, but I've had the idea for this one stuck in my head since like October, and I just really wanted to write it, and initially I had told myself that I would only post it after I finished writing the whole thing (it's only 8 chapters) because otherwise I might abandon it, but I've discovered that doing it that way just,, isn't working for me lol. SO, I decided to just post this first chapter that I've had finished for months, and see if anyone would actually be interested in reading more ??? I feel like I'll be more motivated to finish it if people actually want me to, haha.
> 
> If I do continue this, the updates probably won't be that frequent because like I said, I have another fic in progress also with two more chapters left to write, and if you've been reading that one then you know how damn slow I am with updates anyway lmao. But this one is only gonna be about half as long as that one anyway, so hopefully I'll be able to keep up with it. And also as usual, I'll be updating the tags as I go (but all of the major warnings and basic stuff are already tagged).
> 
> So yeah !! If you enjoy this and want to read more, if you could let me know in the comments, that would be awesome. Thanks :)

“Hey, kid, wake up.”

Kenny was abruptly torn from his already not-so-peaceful sleep by a hand on his shoulder, and the nagging voice of who he could only assume was the driver of whatever bus he had hopped on earlier that day.

“Hm?” He mumbled in response, sleepy and disoriented, his head still resting against the window near the seat that he was occupying. Everything looked foggy as his eyes adjusted to the dim overhead lights which were coaxing him back into the waking world, and for a moment he didn’t remember where he was. He sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes a few times, glancing out the window and noticing how much darker it was outside than it had been the last time he could recall being fully awake. He was the only passenger left on the bus.

“You gotta get off here, kid, you've been riding all day,” The driver spoke again, and Kenny rolled his eyes at the man’s second incredibly condescending usage of the word ‘kid’. He didn’t enjoy being talked down to.

Kenny squinted at the man for a moment, contemplating whether it was worth his time and energy to argue with him or not. He quickly decided that it wasn’t. “...‘Kay, fine, whatever,” He complied, once he was awake enough to form a somewhat coherent sentence. He was far too out of it to pick a fight with the driver, and anyhow, he really should've known better— he always got thrown off the bus eventually. He just wished that this time it could've been _after_ he was able to get a decent amount of sleep, maybe, for once in his damn life. But it wasn't as easy to fall asleep and _stay_ asleep on a bus as one might think, regardless of how tired you think you are.

Kenny stood up and began making his way to the front of the bus, the driver following a little too closely behind him, as if he didn’t entirely trust him— not that Kenny could really blame him. As he walked, he quickly checked both pockets of his orange parka to make sure that he still had all of his belongings on him— all three of them; his cellphone, his charger, and most importantly, his gun.

Once he located all of the items on his mental checklist, he sleepily stumbled off of the bus, nodding at the driver before he drove off, the driver returning a look that seemed to be a mixture of annoyance and forced pity.

And that's how Kenny learned the hard way—or rather was just once again reminded, since this certainly wasn’t the first time he’d been in this situation— that you can only ride the bus for so long before you get kicked off, leaving you stranded in whatever town that no one’s ever heard of you happen to be in when that time comes. However, the clock on Kenny’s cheap prepaid flip phone revealed that this time around had been his longest trip yet— eleven hours, to be exact. And although he was quite proud of himself for managing to get so far, considering that he hadn’t actually _paid_ for his ticket (he’d seen it sticking out of someone’s back pocket and snatched it), he had more important things to think about.

Mostly the fact that he had no idea where the fuck he was.

He looked around the snowy, rural area that laid before him, his eyes scanning his immediate surroundings for any street sign or recognizable landmark that might be able to help him determine the _name_ of this place where the bus driver had dumped him off. The frigid winter air was bitter and unforgiving— the wind brought tears to his eyes and numbness to his cheeks. The cold was really the last thing he needed, considering his already incredibly weak physical state— the prolonged deprivation of food and sleep that often came along with his lifestyle tended to have that effect on him. He reached for the hood of his parka and pulled it up over his head, pulling on the strings to make it tighter, in an attempt to shield his face from the cold at least somewhat. It wasn't very effective.

He continued to look around, though it was somewhat difficult to see anything with this place’s lack of streetlights, and his hood obscuring his view. Eventually, though, a sign that read _‘Welcome to South Park’_ caught his eye, and he sighed.

 _Park County, Colorado._ Also known as; the middle of nowhere.

Having grown up in Denver, Kenny knew his way around the majority of Colorado fairly well. He didn’t spend _all_ of his time there, but he didn’t often stray too far from the state he hated to call home. He tended to get into trouble more when he wound up on someone else’s turf.

Ironically enough though, right now, he appeared to be in trouble.

Coming to grips with the fact that he was stranded, he began to weigh out his options in his head, eventually coming to the conclusion that he didn’t have many. Things definitely didn’t look too good for him. The pockets of his severely ripped jeans held a grand total of four cents, his phone battery was down to 10%, and he didn’t have any friends that lived in the area. It had either been three or four days since he’d last eaten— he couldn’t really remember.

A group of buildings somewhat off in the distance that resembled a town, and happened to be within walking distance of where he was standing, told him that at least one of those problems could potentially be solved tonight. He just had to find a store that he was willing to take his chances in. He was, unfortunately, no stranger to shoplifting, and he greatly preferred it over his second option; robbing someone _—_ especially when he had no way to quickly flee the area tonight, aside from on foot, which wasn’t always fast enough.

Having made his decision, he began walking towards the town, still feeling like he was half asleep.

There seemed to be a pretty decent amount of shops and other businesses in the snowy, middle-class community. It was no downtown Chicago or anything like that, but it had the basic essentials; a grocery store, a post office, a drugstore, a couple fast food places, and so on. There were a handful of people out and about, but not many. Most of them appeared to be on their way home, none of them so much as glancing at Kenny as they walked past. But he didn't mind— the less attention he drew to himself, the better.

After effectively scoping the place out, there was really only one store that grabbed Kenny’s attention; a convenience store a bit further down the road, that was somewhat isolated from the rest of the town. He quickly concluded that this shop would without a doubt be his best bet. He just hoped that they were still open— after all, it was getting kinda late.

He tried hard not to look suspicious as he cautiously approached the small, brightly-lit building. He’d done things _much_ worse than shoplifting over the years in the name of self-preservation, but it was still always somewhat nerve-wracking, walking into a store knowing that he would be leaving without paying. It was impossible to predict what kind of people he would encounter inside— and how those people ‘dealt’ with shoplifters, should he be caught.

But, no matter what consequences were at stake, he still needed to eat. Self-preservation was always his top priority— a bit ironic for someone cursed with the inability to die.

But that wasn’t something that he liked to think about when he didn’t have to. So he pushed it out of his mind as he pushed open the door to the convenience store.

 

* * *

 

Craig absolutely loathed the days when he had to work last shift all by himself— and he despised them even _more_ when he actually had to interact with customers. So when a boy around his age entered the store at 8:04 p.m., the bell at the top of the door alerting Craig of his presence, he was anything but thrilled.

“Welcome to Gary’s,” He said in a voice that was so flat and monotone that it almost sounded as though he was trying _extra_ hard to sound bored, hardly even looking up at the boy who had just walked in. Every time he was forced to say the name of the store, he was again reminded of his unbridled resentment for his stupid redneck boss, the owner of the store, who, being the narcissistic fuck that he was, had appropriately named the place after himself. Craig didn't really get it— how he could be so proud of a dumb name like Gary was beyond him.

The blonde boy simply nodded at Craig as he walked past the front counter and towards the back of the store, and Craig rolled his eyes before glancing down at his phone and checking the time again. Just a little less than an hour until closing time— he hoped he could make it. With any luck, maybe this would be his last customer of the day.

However, his annoyance quickly transformed into subtle curiosity when he looked up at the customer again, purely out of habit, and came to the realization that he didn’t recognize the boy at all.

South Park was a fairly small community, which saw very few outside visitors, if any— and it was usually the same few people that Craig saw come and go from the store on a day to day basis; kids he’d gone to high school with, and their parents. That was pretty much it. And although he hadn’t yet gotten a very good look at this new customer, he was fairly certain that he had never seen him before in his life, and any slight abnormality in his incredibly dull daily routine was pretty rare.

Not that he cared _too_ much, though. He was far more focused on how much he just wanted to go _home._

Meanwhile, now that Kenny had made his way to the very back of the store, he wasted no more time— he began shoving whatever food caught his eye into his pockets, not realizing at the time that he’d forgotten one thing; to make sure that the cashier wasn’t paying attention. _A rookie mistake._ He had _years_ of experience in stealing food, having done it for the first time at age seven, but leave it to the effects of starvation and sleep deprivation to fuck that right up— he could barely hold his eyes open, and his mind was off somewhere else.

In fact, it didn't take long at all for Craig to catch on. He was no employee of the month, but he wasn't _that_ stupid.

Craig heard a bag of chips fall to the ground somewhere in the back of the store, followed by the word _“shit”_ being muttered sharply under the clumsy blonde boy’s breath, and he couldn't help but scoff quietly to himself as he glanced in the boy’s direction again and was met with the sight of him shamelessly shoving bags of snack foods into the pockets of his orange parka, completely oblivious to the fact that Craig knew _exactly_ what he was doing. He didn't know the kid’s story or anything, but he didn't think it was unreasonable to expect a _little_ more subtlety from someone who relied on shoplifting to make ends meet. He was a little insulted that this guy thought he could possibly be _dumb_ enough not to notice him, if he was being honest.

However, Craig’s apathy towards his responsibilities as the only person working that night, and not to mention his outright hatred for his boss, _greatly_ outweighed his need to prove his competence to this random kid that he'd never met before, and would probably never see again. Really, it was his boss’s own damn fault for being too cheap to install security cameras, always claiming that his guns were the only protection the store needed from criminals. He always insisted that one be kept behind the counter at all times. Craig had never touched the thing before in his life— didn't even know how to use it.

So, because Craig frankly couldn't give a shit about a few missing items even if he tried, he decided to cut the poor kid a break— even if he hated that it meant the boy would think that he’d outsmarted him.

Once Kenny was satisfied with the number of items he’d acquired, both of his pockets stuffed to the brim, he began quietly making his way back up to the front of the store, heart pounding obnoxiously in his chest. Craig made a point not to look at him as he made his way towards the door, acting as though he hadn't seen or heard a thing.

But still, Craig couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a _little_ fun at the other boy’s expense. His job was so damn boring, he deserved _some_ kind of entertainment every once in awhile, didn't he? The most he ever really got was when he occasionally used his feet to push off the floor and spin around in the rather uncomfortable stool he sat on behind the counter all day. But hey, at least he wasn’t forced to stand.

“Didn't have what you were lookin’ for?” Craig spoke up just as the boy reached out for the door handle, not looking up at him. Craig had both elbows casually resting on the counter as he sat with a bored expression on his face, pretending to read the old newspaper in front of him that had been sitting there for about a week and a half now.

Kenny froze up— he’d thought that he was in the clear.

When he’d heard the cashier’s voice, Kenny had _almost_ listened to his first instinct and taken off running. It was both a blessing and a curse that his body was almost _always_ stuck in fight or flight mode— a direct side effect not only of living on the streets, but living on the streets _alone._ Whenever a threat was detected, he was on the defensive _instantaneously_ . And although more often than not it was helpful, and essential in getting him out of a lot of situations that weren’t exactly ideal, it wasn’t _always_ the most convenient thing.

_God, at least he hadn’t reached for his gun. That would’ve been even worse._

But anyhow, luckily, in this particular scenario, he was able to keep his cool, despite the fact that he wasn’t in any way on his A-game. Running away undoubtedly would have made him look even more suspicious, and for all he knew, this cashier could’ve been committed enough to his job to chase after him. So instead, Kenny calmly turned to face the cashier that was clearly onto him, hoping that his anxiety wasn't nearly as obvious as he feared it was.

But it was. He looked like a deer in the headlights, and Craig was very much amused by it. When the nervous-looking boy didn’t respond to his question, Craig looked up at him, impatiently raising a single eyebrow. He took a moment to take in the boy’s features— only a small amount of his blonde hair peeked out from under the hood of his jacket, but Craig could tell from the little bit that he could see that the rest of it was likely a tangled mess underneath said hood. The boy had a sort of disheveled and unkempt appearance about him— but not bad-looking, nonetheless. His grey-blue eyes had a certain look of guardedness behind them, aside from the anxiety that clouded them now.

He definitely didn’t look like he was from South Park.

“Oh, uh… no,” Kenny finally managed to choke out, the words coming out so painfully shaky and awkward that he almost didn’t recognize his own voice. Normally he was somewhat of an expert when it came to talking his way out of things, charisma being one of the very few things in life that he _wasn’t_ deprived of, but of course, this time, everything just had to go wrong.

But Kenny was not naive and clueless, like he knew the other boy probably thought he was— he was the farthest from it, really. So it didn't take long for him to pull himself together, or rather to pretend to. He cleared his throat before speaking again. “It's cool, though,” He shrugged, leaning up against the door, the wrappers in his pockets making an awful crinkling noise when he did so. He tried his best not to outwardly cringe at the sound— just as quickly as he had regained his cool, he’d lost it again. “...I'll look somewhere else if I really _have_ to,” He added as casually as he could, silently praying that the cashier would just _let him go._

But Craig was kind of a dick, and he wasn't quite done messing with him yet.

“Y’know... if you’re looking for the sexual enhancement drugs, those are kept behind the counter,” He replied smugly.

Kenny instinctively raised his eyebrows, mostly in disbelief, but a hint of amusement was mixed in as well. A part of him— one that wasn’t so desperately tired and disoriented— was almost intrigued by the way the cashier was blatantly toying with him at this point. It reminded Kenny very much of something _he_ might do to someone, on a better day.

But unfortunately, he wasn’t in any condition to play along.

In fact, he very nearly gave up right then and there. He was seriously considering taking the walk of shame back to the back of the store and returning everything he took— anything to put an end to this humiliating encounter. But his pride, and his empty stomach, wouldn’t let him. So, he continued to nervously and unconvincingly act as though he had nothing to hide. He felt the all-too-familiar sensation of adrenaline rushing through his veins, urging him to run away before things got even worse. But if there was one thing he was good at, it was going against his body’s warnings.

“...Good to know,” He stammered, forcing a causal-looking nod. God, he was usually so much _better_ at this.

Maybe it was the subtle but knowing smirk that was plastered on the cashier’s face that was _really_ throwing Kenny off— the way the bastard was clearly so damn pleased with himself right now, having absolutely no idea what Kenny was really capable of. Or maybe it was the way his piercing-yet-bored-looking dark blue eyes were staring straight through him, his gaze never faltering, as if he were silently whispering, _“who the fuck do you think you’re kidding?”_

Kenny wasn’t used to being on the other end of what was so often his own game.

But then again, maybe it was just the fact that he wasn’t used to getting caught.  

But Kenny had never been one to back down from a challenge, or to allow himself to be so easily intimidated. So, he stared right back at the cashier, into those impossibly dark eyes, waiting anxiously for him to make his next move— and praying that that next move _wouldn’t_ be calling the police on him. His hands were beginning to sweat— he couldn’t believe that a simple task like shoplifting, one that he had at one point in his life performed every single day at the request of his parents, was making him feel so incredibly on-edge and _defeated._

Craig didn’t care _nearly_ enough to call the cops, though, and messing with the anxious blonde boy was becoming less entertaining and more pathetic by the second, since he wasn’t even able to form a coherent comeback. So, Craig took the moment of tense and awkward silence as an opportunity to wrap things up.

He shrugged apathetically, breaking eye contact with the other boy and putting an end to their unspoken staring contest, then looked back down at the newspaper he had been pretending to read earlier. “Alright, well, I’m supposed to tell people to have a good night or whatever when they leave the store, so, y’know… do that, I guess,” He said flatly with a small nod, no detectable trace of emotion in his voice or in his expression.

“Thanks,” Kenny nodded back quickly before turning towards the door again and speed-walking out of the store, never once looking back. He didn’t even take the time to wonder why the other boy had let him off without even so much as a warning.

Meanwhile, Craig was just relieved to be alone in the store once again.

“Fucking dumbass,” He muttered to himself as he watched the mysterious ‘customer’ walk away, very clearly not having any clue where he was going.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on Tumblr if you wanna, my @ is boredstorm


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